Rocker/author Christine Weiser gets the bands back together

Mae Pang and Broad Street get a surprise sequel on...

The article title says Sunday but in fact this is about Christine Weiser's Book Release Party and Reunion concert on Saturday, May 14th (tomorrow). It's celebrating the release of her new novel, "Come As You Are".

Today, October 8, 2015, is the final edition of the Philadelphia City Paper. The website, citypaper.net, will be going away too; assets are being purchased by the Philly Weekly, and will likely disappear like last week's print edition.

The timing is a bit of a surprise (were they waiting for the pope to leave?) but not the news. Weekly papers have been struggling for years. They served a brilliant purpose in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but the arrival of the internet took away the advertising revenue, classifieds, event listings, local band promotions, and porn, leaving little left but horoscopes and arrogant-and-otherwise-unemployable editors. The City Paper was rare in that they actually had real news and competent reporters -- I'd link to some examples but the site's going away -- and it must be a bitter pill for the remaining staff that they've been purchased by an organization that largely abandoned reporting years ago.

Still, maybe one weekly will have enough wherewithal to stay afloat for a few more years. It gives us something to read while waiting for our phones to charge in the coffee house.

A lot of the newer secret conspiracies are better funded, and they’re not even good at staying secret, as they reach their so-called tentacles into every corner of government, industry, and kale farming. We hope our new monthly publication keeps you up to date on your Illuminati.

FIFA made their own FIFA movie about how awesome FIFA is. If you're going to steal millions, there must be better way to blow the money than this. It's the modern equivalent of lighting a cigar with a $100 bill. They're probably doing that too. It's not going over well with the audience (whoever they thought that would be). The US opening weekend brought in $607. In Phoenix, Arizona, they sold one ticket.

If you're new to the FIFA story, John Oliver and Andy Saltzman have traced the history of Sepp Blatter and other infections on a special edition of The Bugle.

Not to take away from the exciting scandal coverage, but there's an exciting Women's World Cup going on right now. In the end, the greatest scandal about the scandal is that it gets in the way of the soccer (or football if you're in the other 90% of the world). Forgetting that would be as wrong as, say, I don't know, forcing the Women's Cup to be played on astroturf.